CM786 Posted April 25, 2007 Posted April 25, 2007 Hi guys, Interested question. I have a head teacher at a school I visit that is an Apple Ethusiast and loves his Macs and technology (rare I know! ). He needs a new office PC and we were wondering if he could use a Mac? Most of the software he uses is available in a Mac version anyway (Office, FirstClass etc) apart from SIMS. What I was wondering is if anyone had successfully installed SIMS.NET on Windows XP while running inside OSX using Parallels? It would need to be able to talk to the main SIMS computer used by the school administrator in the office. This is a small peer to peer network. I think it should work without issue since Windows XP won't know its running on a Mac. Printing might be an issue since the NRG332 Photocopier/printer doesn't have OSX drivers, but I can try and work a way way round that by setting it up as a shared printer from the school administrator's PC and then using Samba to print to it. Any advice or should we just keep things simple and buy a PC? If anyone can confirm that SIMS.NET runs under Parallel properly, then what hardware spec would you recommend in terms of RAM and CPU speed? I was thinking 2GB Ram minimum to get decent performance. I'd rather not use bootcamp, since parellels makes it easy to access Windows XP without having to reboot. Many Thanks, CM786
Geoff Posted April 25, 2007 Posted April 25, 2007 I don't see why it wouldn't work. It certainly works under VMWare on Linux.
CM786 Posted April 30, 2007 Author Posted April 30, 2007 Thanks Geoff Has anyone actually tried it? :?: I can just imagine ringing Capita up and saying that we have a problem with SIMS, but its running on a Mac using virtualisation software...... LOL
mac_shinobi Posted April 30, 2007 Posted April 30, 2007 kingswood ( aka Paul ) did this some time ago and as far as Im aware it worked fine.
GrumbleDook Posted April 30, 2007 Posted April 30, 2007 I use it this way and it works fine. If you are going to be using Assessment Manager a lot then I would not advise it as the memory use is nasty ... very nasty.
GrumbleDook Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 I have had it working with both actually, but presently on AM7. I tend not to use it that much as the images I have for the various OSes I also use run of external devices, but it does work and I have spent up to 12 hours using it at a time (no other applications and yes, it did slow to a crawl in the end!)
PhilNeal Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 Thanks for the info. I'll see if we can track the leak. I assume that the Apple software is innocent? With respect to our Service Desk - they should always try to replicate the error irrespective of the platform. We do only test on MS and we rely on other manufacturers getting their software right.
GrumbleDook Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 The leak is the same one that happens on Windows XP and 2000. It is the failure to release all of the memory when swapping marksheets. It is just AM6/7 ... we are used to it by now.
HodgeHi Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 Why are sotware companies still only writing thier applications for one platform? I understand the time to port but a Library solution that we purchased (which wasn't bad in cost at all) runs on all platforms and can run through web browsers to search on client machines. In this day and age where the trend is schools are opting for open-source platforms or other alternatives (OS independent, Apple etc) to Windows, schools don't want to be tied down to one OS due to their most important application not being flexible.
PhilNeal Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 Supporting two platforms properly doubles test costs. In our case that would mean going from 30 testers to 60 - not cheap.
Geoff Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 What about a web based interface then. That's about as platform independent as you can get.
PhilNeal Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 We do have a web front end for teachers, parents and pupils but at the moment we can't achieve the same richness of interface as with a client application. If we could we would go browser.
PhilNeal Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 I'm not a programmer any more but I do have a good team - they tell me its getting closer but isn't there yet. Even if it was getting the whole of SIMS converted would cost many many millions.
HodgeHi Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 The library software i spoke of is called Accessit Library Software. As far as i know it is only a small company. It seems so in this country but may have a larger size in its home-grown location of New Zealand. But even open-source has migrated Firefox across multiple platforms. What aspects of SIMS is causing the problem? You say richness, but again the library software runs identical on all systems even the browser-based system. I admit i am not a programmer or designer but am a fustrated computer user who sees applications getting in the way of choice between various OS platforms. Nearly everyone complains about the way Microsoft do things and yet everyone supports them regardless. Yes it is the most used OS in the world, but why is that?? Maybe its because the apps you use don't run on anything else.
GrumbleDook Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 I have some symapthy for the SIMS team. When you consider that SIMS.net is derived from SIMS ... which is really a bunch of different apps all bundled and 'sort of' linked together. The different sections are getting better and the reliabilty is getting better. It is worth pointing out that if I was to use Excel files to do the same as I use AM7 for I would suffer similar memory issues where not all of it is released when you close marksheet and open another (but leave the app running!) I also have a similar issue woth Photoshop ... and Firefox (but that does take a heck of a lot of opening multiple tabs). It just happens quicker with AM7. I'm not bothered about it. I tell staff doing a lot of work on Marksheets to restart their computer every 2 hours if they are doing it non-stop. That is a solution that works.
Abaddon Posted May 2, 2007 Posted May 2, 2007 We do have a web front end for teachers, parents and pupils but at the moment we can't achieve the same richness of interface as with a client application. If we could we would go browser. I haven't seen this anywhere - is it on general release?
PhilNeal Posted May 2, 2007 Posted May 2, 2007 Its on general release - known as SIMS Learning Gateway. Its an application tier for MS Learning Gateway that is scaleable from a single school to across an LA. A parent with children at multiple schools has a single log in. Teachers working across schools get a single diary showing their commitments in the different schools.
Mr_T Posted May 2, 2007 Posted May 2, 2007 Supporting two platforms properly doubles test costs. In our case that would mean going from 30 testers to 60 - not cheap. A Cheap shot but what the hell.......So thats 60 packets of peanuts a month not 30. Capita will go bust or are they paying in bananas now :-p
PhilNeal Posted May 2, 2007 Posted May 2, 2007 Emm £7.5m/year on the SIMS development programme might be peanuts to you but ...!
matt40k Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 Depends, how much you guys have coming in and your business goals. Assuming it's around the £40m mark "income" that's not bad!
chrisjako Posted October 6, 2009 Posted October 6, 2009 is anyone actually using SIMS with macOS and parallels? We're about to stick ITX all in one PC's in every classroom for lesson monitor and whiteboard connectivity but our technology dept are asking for MACmini's instead
Ian_ICTDS Posted October 6, 2009 Posted October 6, 2009 I assume Apple have a RDP client compatible with Windows. Could the user not just RDP onto a windows PC and run SIMS from there?
sparkeh Posted October 6, 2009 Posted October 6, 2009 A Cheap shot but what the hell.......So thats 60 packets of peanuts a month not 30. Capita will go bust or are they paying in bananas now :-p Emm £7.5m/year on the SIMS development programme might be peanuts to you but ...! Sorry I but I gotta point out that he was making a joke about the quality of testing not the sum involved (peanuts - monkeys)... The different sections are getting better and the reliabilty is getting better. I have to agree. At one of my schools we rolled out SIMS to the teachers and so far its been perfectly stable apart from one hairy upgrade but that was sorted quickly. In fact I haven't had a single complaint which is saying something! AM7 is a vast improvement on AM6 in my opinion and is getting better as well. Wow I sound like a convert
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